Vendors offer amulets in the time of Oplan Tokhang

Erica Policarpio, 26,
a street vendor at the Quiapo Church offer stones that promised invisibility
and protection from bullets.

She inherited her
space from her father, a faith healer, who learned the trade from a Mangyan
family in Oriental Mindoro.

Street vendors may
have the answer of the campaign of Philippine National Police (PNP) Oplan
Tokhang.

According to the
vendor, increasingly men have seeking stones called ‘niyog na bato,” or stone
pellets, of “ngipin ng kidlat,” or teeth of thunder. But Love potion or gayuma
remains the best-seller.

“They asked me what the stone ngipin ng kidlat was for. I
told them it’s a protection against bullets and knives. They replied: ‘That
means I won’t be subjected to tokhang then?’”

The men asked the vendor if buying ngipin ng kidlat
guaranteed invisibility from policemen.

“If we become invisible,” Policarpio said, recounting her
other client’s concern, “that means that police wouldn’t see us anymore?”

According to Policarpio, the stones were all source from a
mystical seventh mountain in Bulalacao town.

“We refuse customers who specifically ask us for stones that
can help them evade Tokhang because we know they’re going to use them for evil
deeds,” she said.

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